Noynoy: I Won't Let My Parents Down

Liberal Party (LP) presidential bet Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III vowed not to squander the opportunity to lead the country on the road to development. Aquino, the only son of the late former President Corazon Aquino and martyred former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., also said he would not destroy the legacy of his revered parents. Aquino said he would want to face his parents one day and tell them that he continued their fight for democracy that led to the first EDSA people power revolution in 1986. Aquino will lead the commemoration of the event today with thousands of his supporters at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Aquino said the LP organized today’s rally as a showcase of the real strength of its campaign – the thousands who demonstrate the true spirit of volunteerism. “That is the idea of people power. We want to demonstrate it,” he said. Top entertainers including Ogie Alcasid, Regine Velasquez, Christian Bautista, Erik Santos, Sponge Cola, Brownman revival and others will enliven the gathering.

Aquino said President Arroyo, who was a product of the second people power revolt, had failed to live up to the spirit of EDSA. He said Mrs. Arroyo allowed corruption in government and denied the people their due.

Aquino said that if he is elected president, this would be his last campaign and he would retire from politics after his term. He said he wanted to be able to tell himself at that time that the country was better off when he left than when he came in. “And once God tells me, finished or not finished pass your paper, I can face my parents - looking up, not looking down to be hit on the head - proud to be able to tell them that I continued their fight and finished it, through the help of the people,” Aquino said.

Aquino’s “Yellow Army” of supporters and various groups will gather at Araneta Center today to celebrate the first EDSA revolution, which the senator said was a defining moment in the country’s history.

The event will have the theme “People Power is Equal to Vote Power, learning from the past, fighting for the future,” according to LP spokesman Sen. Francis Pangilinan. Not to be left behind, the Nacionalista Party (NP) of presidential candidate Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. said they would match Aquino’s yellow army rally by holding a rock concert at the SM Mall of Asia tonight. Television host Willie Revillame of “Wowowee” will lead the Rockatropa concert and “will paint the town orange,” Villar’s campaign color, the NP said. -With Christina Mendez